Woman among three booked for duping people

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 17

The city police have booked three travel agents, including a woman, for duping people on the pretext of sending them abroad in two separate cases.

In the first case, the police booked two travel agents, who duped a resident of several lakhs on the pretext of sending him abroad. The accused have been identified as Onkar Singh Sekhon of Mukatsar and Preet Grewal.

Complainant Navpreet Singh of Urban Estate Dugri said he was assured by the agents of arranging a visa for Canada, but instead of Canada, they sent him to Bangkok. “I had given Rs14.80 lakh to the accused and now they are not returning the money. They cheated me and strict action should be taken against them,” he said.

In a similar case, the police Division No. 5 have booked a travel agent identified as Raveena Kumar, owner of Asian Link, in Gurdev Nagar. Complainant Manjeet Sharma of Naveen Nagar, a resident of Haibowal Kalan, said he paid Rs1.55 lakh to the woman, who assured to send him abroad.

He said the accused failed to arrange a visa for him. A case under Section 10 of the Immigration Act, 13 (1) of the Prevention of Human Smuggling Act was registered against the accused. The police have yet to arrest the persons in the two separate cases.

 Victim alleges torture in Bangkok

The victim, Navpreet, alleged that he was tortured in Bangkok by some Haryana-based youth at the behest of travel agents. "We had reached Bangkok on January 11 from where agents had promised to arrange direct visa for Canada. Instead of arranging visa, on January 12, they took me to some isolated place in Bangkok, where I was stripped and badly tortured. They forced me to call my parents from Bangkok from a Canadian phone number to inform that I reached Canada. The moment I informed my parents, they handed over Rs 15 lakhs to the agent. Later, I was sent back to India on January 29. Many other victims like me were also there, who were tortured," Navpreet said while adding that the Ludhiana police took 11 months to register a case against the agent.